Hemp (Cannabis) Cultivation and Use in the Republic of Korea

Abstract

Abstract This paper summarizes the history of hemp (Cannabis) cultivation and traditional use in the Republic of Korea and investigates the cultivation and processing techniques currently being employed to produce hemp ribbon and seed and weave hemp textiles. Recent production levels and market conditions are reviewed. Hemp is cultivated for bast fiber and seed in several of the numerous fertile inland valleys of the Republic of Korea. Present distribution and level of production are much reduced in comparison with the 20th century. There is no local tradition of its use as either medicine or inebriant. Comparisons with European hemp cultivation and processing, (representative of commercial Western hemp production), Chinese hemp cultivation and production in Shandong Province, (representative of modern Chinese commercial production), and Vietnamese Hmong-Miao cultivation, processing, and weaving, (representative of traditional non-commercial Asian hemp production), are provided where appropriate. Comparisons to hemp growing in the Republic of Korea during the 1950s and early 1960s are made.